Woman Accuses TV Talk Show of Invasion of Privacy

Mar. 31, 1989

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) _ A woman has filed a lawsuit against talk show host Phil Donahue, claiming he invaded her privacy with a show revealing that she had been sexually assaulted by her stepfather and gave birth at age 12.

Nancy Booher Anonsen claims she was ''humiliated, embarrassed, frightened, frustrated and anguished'' when her mother appeared on a Donahue show about incest.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in a state court in Galveston County, did not specify the amount of monetary damages sought.

The lawsuit also named as defendants the woman's mother, Miriam ''Mickey'' Booher, Donahue producer Jose Pretlo, Multimedia Entertainment Inc., Donahue's production company, and KTRK-TV, a Houston television station.

The woman's mother, reached by the Houston Chronicle at her home in Bryant, Ark., said her daughter filed the lawsuit because ''she smelled the money.'' She also denied claims she went on the program without her daughter's knowledge.

''As a matter of fact, she was going to go with me and at the last minute, she backed out,'' Ms. Booher said.

David Berg, the Houston lawyer who filed the lawsuit, said Donahue and his producers ''can put whatever they want on the air. But they cannot do it at the expense of Nancy Anonsen. The cost to her is too great.''

Steven Fadem, an attorney for the Donahue show, refused to comment before seeing a copy of the lawsuit. KTRK-TV General Manager Paul Burres was not in his office this morning and could not be reached for comment.

Although Ms. Anonsen's name was not used during the January show, Berg said, there was no attempt to disguise her mother's identity.